Sunday, January 21, 2018

Claire is 14 today, hip, hip, hooray!

Wait a second here...why in the world am I hip-hooraying? This is my second to last child...and look at her! She's practically a lady!

I keep willing these kids to slow down and all they seem to do is speed up, gosh dang it!

But I guess since she really is going to go ahead and turn 14 we better celebrate that little milestone. Because she's pretty excited about it :)

Man alive I adore this 14-year-old girl of mine. Here are my top 14 things I love about her:

1) From the moment she was born she sparkled.

...and made other people sparkle too.

She just glows from the inside out and her light is abundant.

2) She is kind. She looks out for others and tries to build them up....her friends, her siblings...her parents. I love finding a little note from her every now and again on my bed, filled with kindness and love in her large, curvy handwriting.

3) She is a good friend. I love the little things like how the other day she was with a bunch of kids at our house and one of them was having a tough time getting a word in edgewise in the conversation. I loved overhearing her say, "hold on! so-and-so is trying to talk!" (except the girls name isn't really so-and-so, but you probably guessed that...ha!)

4) She is a good sister. Yes, that kind of goes along with being a good friend, because she's friends to her sisters (and brother), but I love that they are all drawn to her and she's a big cheerleader for them all.

5) She is funny. And never afraid to ham it up.

(Look how little those girls were!! And she still does the same stuff and makes the same faces :)

6) She is creative...an artist at heart. She and her friend started doing these painted quotes a while back and I realized what a natural ability she has to create beauty.

7) She's a great little athlete. And has a natural ability to know how to move and where to be and she works hard. It's been SO fun to watch her take on so many sports this year (tennis, soccer, volleyball) and work so hard at each.

8) Claire has grit. Speaking of sports, she beams when she has multiple games on one Saturday and she just goes from one to the other so excited. She also has grit with school work...that girl works hard and is always on top of any homework or project and just gets stuff done.

9) She is smart as a whip. She loves math and especially science...she loves to learn. Which helps her get really great grades.

10) She is a good pet-owner. Man alive she loves that dog of hers! She treats Bo like a little baby and carries her around but also treats her like a little sister teasing her like crazy. She cracks me up.

11) She has a great sense of style.

12) She is low-maintenance. She doesn't ask for a lot and is {usually} so happy to just go with the flow.

13) She is mature enough to hang with her older sisters who adore her, yet she is fun and spunky enough to be Lucy's main idol.

14) She knows she's a daughter of God. And keeps a firm belief of her Savior and what He has done for her in her heart. She knows where to turn in times of sadness or trials. I love her gospel questions and her tenderness when it comes to gospel conversations.

And one more to grow on...one of my favorite things about her is that she is mine. I get to be her mother forever and ever.